Former UNC Star Recalls Moment She Refocused Life on God: ‘He is My Hope’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Former University of North Carolina women’s basketball player Charlotte Smith is sharing when she realized she needed to give God her whole life.
Smith grew up as a pastor’s kid, always tagging along with her parents to help spread the love of Christ in her community.
From a young age, she was a fan of Michael Jordan and knew she wanted to play basketball at UNC.
“One of the things that drew me to the University of North Carolina was Coach Sylvia Hatchell,” Smith said in the “I Am Second” series. “She was a woman of great faith. And I knew that I wanted to surround myself with people with like mindsets in terms of faith.”
Smith said Coach Hatchell “believed that we could become national champions.”
The coach “spoke it every single day in the huddle, national champs.”
“We believed in the power of words,” Smith said. “We believed in the power of our works. And so we wanted to put the work in, and we did that in a matter of three years.”
In 1994, Smith and Hatchell secured their dream and became National Champions after Smith hit the winning shot in the final seconds of the game.
“And it’s like when you experience those euphoric highs, you want to try to recreate those things,” she added.
With the obsession of a national championship on her mind, Smith didn’t think much of her spiritual life, and after the win, she began chasing all the wrong things. Although she never denied her belief in God, her life and actions didn’t align with her faith.
After playing professionally in Italy, she came back to the States and played in the WNBA, where she set her sights on WNBA All-Star and MVP honors.
But those things would never bring her satisfaction.
“Year after year in the WNBA, I would fall short of my WNBA wish list,” Smith expressed. “Finally, you hit that brick wall where you surrender to God and you realize that, like He is my hope, He is my joy, He’s my peace, and He is the love of my life.”
“And I just remember feeling like Holy Spirit was speaking in that moment and saying, ‘What have you done for me lately?’ There comes a point in time where you have to make a decision,” Smith recalled. “Are you going to give God your whole heart and fully surrender? And it was after like a lot of heartbreak I decided to redirect my focus.”
She frequently shares her faith on social media. In a recent Instagram post, she shared Psalm 109:1-5.
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